Maria Almas-Dietrich, nee Dietrich (born 27 June 1892 in Munich; died 11 November 1971 in Dachau) was one of Hitler's most important art suppliers for his planned FührerMuseum in Linz.

Life

The daughter of a butcher in Munich's Westend, Maria Dietrich became a force in the French art market thanks to her connection to Hitler. In 1920 she gave birth to an illegitimate child. In 1921 she married Ali Almàs, a Turkish journalist of Jewish origin born in Izmir on 1 May 1883, who also wrote under the name “Diamant”. Dietrich owned Galerie Almas in Munich located in Munich's Ottostrasse 9 next to the Swiss and American embassies, which dealt in antiques and paintings from the 15th to 19th centuries. She divorced Almas in 1937, but kept the name for the gallery. On 15 January 1940 she was naturalized in the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...

after swearing she was not Jewish.

Art dealer for Hitler

Dietrich got close to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

through his photographer

Heinrich Hoffmann Heinrich Hoffmann or Hoffman may refer to: Hoffmann * Heinrich Hoffmann (photographer) (1885–1957), German photographer *Heinrich Hoffmann (author) (1809–1894), German psychiatrist and author * Heinrich Hoffmann (sport shooter) (1869–?), Germ ...

, and Hitler authorized her to purchase artworks for him without asking permission first. Between 1936 and 1944 Dietrich acquired more than one thousand artworks for Hitler and his Führermuseum, making her one of the most important dealers in the Third Reich. Much of the art she acquired had been looted from Jews.

Arrest and interrogation

In autumn 1945 Almas-Dietrich was arrested and interrogated by the OSS Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU). A special interrogation report about her was drafted. However, it was not published. She was mentioned 22 times in the ALIU Final Report on Nazi-looting of art which noted "''Dietrich, Frau Maria Almas. Munich, Gustav Freytagstr 5. Art dealer; personal friend of Hitler, and for a time his principal buyer of works of art. One of the most important purchasing agents for Linz. Was under house arrest at Grafing, Bavaria, autumn 1945."'' The Allies suspected that Almas-Dietrich '"like many other dealers" had stashed away quantities of Nazi-looted art. Monuments Man S. Lane Faison recommended that her licence be suspended.

Postwar

After the war, Maria Almas Dietrich returned to Munich and lived in a neighborhood close to other dealers of Nazi-looted art. Despite her deep involvement in Nazi-looted art, she was not troubled by the German authorities. She even made claims for artworks that had been found by the Monuments Men. On 4 March 1949 she addressed claims to Occupation Costs Office because paintings by Grützner, Defregger, Horemans and Braith as well as “5 wooden sculptures of male saints” could no longer be found in the Collecting Point and were presumably stolen. She was one of the exhibitors at the Munich art and antiques fair co-founded by

Otto Bernheimer Otto Bernheimer (14 July 1877 – 5 July 1960) was a German collector of art, and an antique dealer. Life Otto Bernheimer, born 1877 in Munich, was the son of a supplier to the royal Bavarian court Lehmann Bernheimer Lehmann Bernheimer (27 ...

. Mimi tho Rahde continued the art business after the death of her mother.

Nazi-looted art acquired via Dietrich

The number of Nazi-looted artworks acquired through Dietrich is so great that it requires databases to track them, including the Hitler's Linz Museum database, th
Lostart database
th
Central Collecting Point Database
the ERR database and others. Many of the artworks she acquired were destined for Hitler's personal collection or his museum in Linz. Others entered the private market for Nazi-looted art via dealers in Switzerland or other intermediaries. A few examples include: * The oil painting ''Fiat Justitia'' by

Carl Spitzweg Carl Spitzweg (February 5, 1808 – September 23, 1885) was a German romanticist painter, especially of genre subjects. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era. Life and career Spitzweg was born in U ...

came to Almas-Dietrich in 1938 from the Heinemann Gallery, under the Nazis. The work was not returned to the Heinemann family, but served from 10 June 1949 as a decoration in the office of the Federal President in Bonn for eight presidents. It ended up in the Berlin art depot of the Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Property Issues. * The allegory of ''Hygieia'' by

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (; 15 January 1793 – 23 August 1865) was an Austrian painter and writer. Waldmüller was one of the most important Austrian painters of the Biedermeier period. Career In 1807, Waldmüller attended the Academy o ...

came from the persecuted

Hermann Eissler Hermann Jacob Eissler (20 July 1860 Vienna – 26 February 1953 Nice) was an Austrian entrepreneur and art collector persecuted and plundered by Nazis because of his Jewish origins. Early life Eissler was born in Vienna in 1860. He was the son o ...

in Vienna to the Munich gallery “Almas”. "As early as June 1938, the Munich art dealer Maria Almas-Dietrich asked for permission to export the 4 pharmacy signs intended for the driver's cab in Munich." * Chalk and pencil drawings by

Adolph von Menzel Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel (8 December 18159 February 1905) was a German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings, and paintings. Along with Caspar David Friedrich, he is considered one of the two most prominent German painters of th ...

came to Almas-Dietrich from the gallery of Anna Caspari. After the war, the sheets were distributed to various German museums.

Moritz von Schwind image:Moritz von Schwind 2.jpg, 200px, Moritz von Schwind, c. 1860. Moritz von Schwind (21 January 1804 – 8 February 1871) was an Austrian painter, born in Vienna. Schwind's genius was lyrical—he drew inspiration from chivalry, folklore, and th ...

's ''Nymphe Genoveva'' was procured inexpensively for the

Führermuseum The ''Führermuseum'' or ''Fuhrer-Museum'' (English: Leader's Museum), also referred to as the Linz art gallery, was an unrealized art museum within a cultural complex planned by Adolf Hitler for his hometown, the Austrian city of Linz, near ...

in 1940 from the property of the politically unpopular

Richard von Kühlmann Richard von Kühlmann (3 May 1873 – 16 February 1948) was a German diplomat and industrialist. From 6 August 1917 to 9 July 1918, he served as Germany's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and led the delegation that negotiated the Treaty ...

. In 1966 it was transferred to the

von der Heydt Museum The Von der Heydt Museum is a museum in Wuppertal, Germany. The Von der Heydt Museum includes works by artists from the 17th century to the present time. History The museum is housed in the former city hall of Elberfeld, which in 1902 became a ...

in Wuppertal.

Importance as an art looter

The Austrian Lexicon of Provenance Research places Almas-Dietrich among the top dealers in Nazi looted art under the Third Reich: "Alongside

Karl Haberstock Karl Haberstock (born 19 June 1878 in Augsburg; died 6 September 1956 in Munich) was a Berlin art dealer who trafficked in Nazi-looted art. Haberstock's name appears 60 times in the Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945–1946 and ...

and Maria Almas-Dietrich, the art dealer

Bruno Lohse Bruno Lohse (17 September 1911 – 19 March 2007) was a German art dealer and SS-Hauptsturmführer who, during World War II, became the chief art looter in Paris for Hermann Göring, helping the Nazi leader amass a vast collection of plundered a ...

was probably one of the most important art dealers in the service of the National Socialist government." Recent historical research emphasizes Almas-Dietrich's connection to powerful Nazi art looters such as Bruno Lohse, describing her as part of the "solar system that included Nazi art traders such as Alois Miedl, Walter Andreas Hofer, Maria Almas Dietrich and Karl Haberstock"

Literature

* Günther Haase: ''Kunstraub und Kunstschutz. Eine Dokumentation''. Band 1: ''Kunstraub und Kunstschutz''. 2. erweiterte Auflage. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2008, ISBN 978-3-8334-8975-4, S. 133ff. * Jonathan Petropoulos: ''The Faustian bargain. The art world in Nazi Germany''. Oxford University Press, New York NY 2000, ISBN 0-19-512964-4 * Birgit Schwarz: ''Auf Befehl des Führers. Hitler und der NS-Kunstraub''. Darmstadt 2014 * Lynn H Nicholas, Der Raub der Europa. Das Schicksal europäischer Kunstwerke im Dritten Reich, ISBN 9783426772607, München 1997 *''Commission for Protection and Restitution of Cultural Material, London 1945, National Archives M1947, Art Dealers-Vaucher Commission Lists, 16 July 1945''

References

External links

* Sophia Barth: ''Maria Almas-Dietrich''. Bachelor-Arbeit, LMU München 2014. https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/41206/ * Artikel in der NZZ
Die «Lenbach-Schönheit» im Palais Pringsheim
*Austrian Lexicon of Provenance Research entry fo
Maria Almas DietrichDHM database Central Collecting Point
{{DEFAULTSORT:AlmasDietrich, Maria 1971 deaths 1892 births Nazis Art dealers Women art dealers Nazi-looted art German art dealers Art crime